Busy with other things but tomato is looking good!

 It is definitely getting ripe, still no sign of blossom end rot. Yay!

This also shows to an extent just how far over the cage is leaning. I haven't been able to go find a good stake to tie it to so had to improvise with what was on hand.

That'll do in a pinch

And the zucchini has about three female flowers but they're all closed and the male flowers are too. Fail fail fail!

Just can't catch a break with these plants

 

The fruit on the farthest bottom left is the oldest, flower is already browning, those big male flowers are all done and the females haven't even gotten open yet.The other plant is all males so far, just so dang frustrating!

Watered today and that one plant that I said didn't look like grass.... bad on me, I have no idea if any of the cilantro is growing given how hot it is despite the seeds being more shaded, can't keep them damp enough.

I was messaged by a former coworker who has had a house for years and has a garden that includes 12 tomato plants in six different varieties in a 16 ft bed. Yeah he knows his stuff. A customer told him 'you don't know anything about gardening'. His reply, 'What's a cucamelon?' and walked away. 

Much like any other service industry we get our share of customers that come in for help and then tell us we don't know what we're talking about. I had one lady almost my age how said, 'I've been gardening longer than you've been alive'. Being on the job I couldn't give her the whole piece of what I wanted to say but told her I had twenty years experience and she waved her hand and said 'you don't know anything'.

Insulting and frustrating but I just walked away because my time wasn't worth the effort to prove myself. You have to choose your battles and go help someone who actually appreciates your knowledge and expertise and makes a point of letting the bosses know. You do what works for you and if someone else says otherwise, be polite. Take their advice and maybe, possibly say thank you I might try that instead. 

Also I would get one customer interrupt me giving advice to someone and they'd bust in and say, 'oh this is what worked for me' and hijack the whole conversation. At that point I just walk away. Go ahead and tell them some home remedy or how they spent more money on something that worked or whatever.

We all have something that works for us but it was drilled into my head that 'In California the label is the law'. That means you don't have instructions on a bottle of dish soap on how to use it as an insecticide because that's not it's purpose. It's a game of 'Telephone'. Someone sees a product called 'Insecticidal Soap' and thinks 'hey I have liquid soap at home, I'll just dilute it down and it's the same thing right?' Wrong. The actual ingredient is 'potassium salts of fatty acids', think about those words. It is the base chemical chain for old fashioned lard and salt/ash soap. Not the new modern liquid soaps with all kinds of other chemicals in them. Doing my research I just discovered this on wikipedia:

 

"Insecticidal soap is most effective if it is dissolved in soft water, since the fatty acids in soap tend to precipitate in hard water, thereby reducing the effectivity.^"

So this means that it is using a softened water base and if you get it as a concentrate  you need to  use softened water or it won't work as well. Potassium based soaps are typically liquid or soft soaps but again it does not mean they are good for your plants. Do your homework and make sure what you're using is not going to damage your plants. One of the side effects of using the wrong product is what is called 'phytotoxicity', in other words, sun poisoning. Not going to go into details but it explains why some people would come in and say 'I used this product this way and my plants look burned' well did you read the label? Did you use a home remedy? There ya go.

This is all I have for now. I also have a mosquito under my desk that is biting my knees and lower legs. No idea how to get rid of it since I never use bug spray. 

Hey! I have some liquid soap! I can dilute that down and spray them!